LUXEMBOURG –Delfin S.à r.l., the company here controlled by Leonardo Del Vecchio, founder and chairman of the board of directors of Luxottica Group S.p.A., said yesterday that it had completed the placement of 18 million ordinary shares of Luxottica Group S.p.A., equal to approximately 3.8 percent of the group’s outstanding ordinary shares, for a total of €486 million.

The sale was less than the previously announced target of selling up to 33 million shares, or 7 percent, of Luxottica’s shares, which had been announced on Wednesday, as reported.

The placement was carried out through an accelerated bookbuilt offering to institutional investors, at a price of €27.00 per share. Goldman Sachs International acted as sole bookrunner for the placement and UniCredit Bank AG London Branch acted as co-bookrunner.

As a result of the sale, Delfin still controls the majority of shares of Luxottica Group but has reduced its share from approximately 66 percent to 62.1 percent of ordinary share capital.

At the time of the announcement, Del Vecchio said the sale of Luxottica ordinary shares is intended to “enhance the trading liquidity of Luxottica’s listed shares” and that Delfin “remains fully committed, as the majority shareholder, to ensuring Luxottica’s stability and long-term growth, which is its core DNA, and it is not contemplating any additional sale following the completion of this offering.”